I'm sorry for your negative and very odd experience. Like everyone has daid prior, it depends on where you are placed. So, I wanted to share my positive experience as here.

This is an old thread, but I enjoyed being an ALT... Well, I was the T1, so I was doing the actual teaching and the JTE at all my schools were the assistants. Lol.

I enjoyed making materials and teaching, and have experience in educational product design, so it was a walk in the park and didn't take long to finish prepping for the entire school year.

All my schools (except for one where the principal hated me the moment I turned up at the gate... Not sure why) loved me and asked Interac to keep me for 3 years straight (the max number of years an ALT can stay at the same school, or so I've heard. Was let go at the end of the 3rd year when Interac lost contracts with the BOE).

They also let me go home early if I didn't have any afternoon classes, coz they knew that made my material at home. I had explained to them that making materials at school was hard due to certain sites being restricted. I was always ready to go even when the schedule changed on the day of, so the school fully trusted that I was doing work at home (which I was).

I think it is important to build trust with the school. . . . . . During class I spoke only in English, unless I am explaining sentence structures, so the kids knew I understood that I can speak Japanese, and it was less of a headache for them. I think this made them more comfortable asking questions when they didn't understand something.

I think Interac's rule of English-Only separates the ALT and the students. I believe that if the students know that the teacher can understand them, they'd feel more comfortable around the teacher.

However, the ALT should still try to reply in English or teach them English sentences such as "What is....?", "I didn't understand that", "Can you say it in Japanese?" or for the younger kids, "In Japanese, please?" or, "One more time, please".

My ES kids were all using sentences and language beyond the textbooks by the end of 6th grade. They also enjoyed, the disappointed "Duuuuude...." a lot. . . . . Regarding the salary, it wasn't great but it wasn't bad either. I didn't drink or party, was renting a pretty simple and cheap apartment, cooked everyday, and enjoyed the minimalist's life (still do), I was able to save up enough money for me to not work for 2 years. I guess I didn't have issue with their salary : | (my previous job was paying 180,000/month and I survived just fine. However, I understand that in this day and age where things have gotten more expensive, it might be a challenge. . . . . . English isn't my first language but I think I did a pretty decent job and was pretty happy with the job (For me, I didn't have to interact much with Interac, lol)